Indians Prospect Insider

The Buffalo Bisons today announced that RHP Jon Meloan and INF Walter Diaz have been placed on the team's active roster for Sunday's game in Charlotte against the Charlotte Knights (5:15 p.m.). Meloan was acquired by the Cleveland Indians yesterday in the Casey Blake trade. Diaz has been promoted from Single-A Mahoning Valley.
Meloan and Diaz will fill the roster spots as INF Andy Gonzalez...

Huff dominates for Herd, Bisons 2-hit Charlotte
David Huff combined with Jeff Stevens, Rich Rundles and Randy Newsom on a 2-hit shutout of the Charlotte Knights on Saturday, leading the Bisons to a 4-0 win just a day after the Herd had allowed a season high 19 hits.
Huff, making his 10th start for the Bisons, was masterful again; he faced the minimum through 4 innings after Knights DH...

The Cleveland Indians today announced the club has acquired CA CARLOS SANTANA & RHP JON MELOAN from the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for INF CASEY BLAKE & cash.
Santana, 22, has spent the entire 2008 season with the Inland Empire 66ers of the A California League. The switch-hitting catcher is batting .323 (113-350) with 88 runs scored, 34 doubles, 4 triples, 14HR and 96 RBI in 99...

The Cleveland Indians today announced the club has acquired RHP ANTHONY REYES from the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for RHP LUIS PERDOMO.
Reyes, 26, has split the 2008 season between the St. Louis bullpen and AAA Memphis rotation. He was on the Cardinals’ opening day roster and posted a mark of 2-1 w/a save and a 4.91 ERA in 10 relief outings (14.2IP, 16H, 8R/ER, 2HR, 3BB, 10K), recoding...

Just got back from my all morning visit in Winter Haven with the GCL Indians. After yesterday's game the Indians sent catcher Matt McBride to Kinston. He is on his way there right now and should be activated sometime in the next day or so. First baseman Todd Martin will also be sent to Kinston today after the game.
I had a chance to speak with manager Rouglas Odor and pitching coach Steve Lyons...

"Minor Happenings" covers the important developments and news in the Indians farm system. While most of the information in this report is from my own research and through interviews I have conducted with organizational personnel, some information in this report is collected and summarized from the various news outlets that cover each team.
As mentioned the other day in a piece on Mahoning Valley...

Lewis pitches Aeros past Mets to stop skid
LHP Scott Lewis worked 7 sparkling innings to lead the Akron Aeros to a 5-1 win over the Binghamton Mets on Friday night at Canal Park snapping a 2 game losing streak.
Lewis, making only his 10th start of the year after suffering a strained lat in spring training, improved his record to 5-2 allowing just the lone run off 5 hits with a walk...

The Buffalo Bisons today announced that OF Trevor Crowe has been promoted from Double-A Akron. To make room on the roster, OF Jason Tyner was released.
Crowe, 24, was hitting .323 (64-198) with 16 doubles, 2 triples, 4 home runs and 28RBI in 49 games with the Aeros. He also had 27 walks and a .404 on-base percentage. He hit .400 (42-105) with 10 doubles, four home runs and 24RBI in 25 June...

Aeros season on a downward Curve?!
The Akron Aeros continued to scuffle Thursday afternoon, falling by a score of 3-1 to the Altoona Curve at Blair County Ballpark. The loss sent the Aeros to a 4-1 series defeat and saw their record fall to 2-7 since the AA All-Star break.
Akron actually got on the board first in the 2nd inning as Matt Whitney launched a solo HR (#9) to left-field off...

Editor's Note: Minor Happenings will not post today as Tony is in transit to Florida. Minor Happenings will post first thing this Saturday morning with all the updates on the farm and what he is doing in Florida.
It has already been almost two months since baseball

De La Cruz pitches K-Tribe past Nationals
Impressive Debut for 20-year old LHP
LHP Kelvin De La Cruz pitched effectively into the 6th inning and the Indians infield smacked around Potomac pitching to send the K-Tribe to a 6-4 win over the Nationals at Pfitzner Stadium.
Kinston jumped out to a 3-0 first inning lead on 5 straight one-out singles by Beau Mills, Nick Weglarz, Jared...

Just a quick mid-day update. No news....just a quick update on the site.
As I have alluded to over the last week, tonight I head out for a two week trip that is part vacation and part baseball related. During this time, I may be slow to respond to e-mails and comments here on the site, especially for the next 24-36 hours while I make my way down to Florida. But, as always, I will respond...

K-Tribe blanked by Nationals
De La Cruz to make Kinston debut Wednesday at noon
RHP Hector Rondon will not want to see the Potomac Nationals again this season. Rondon was roughed up for 6 runs on 7 hits in 5 innings of work to fall to 8-5 on the season as the Kinston Indians were shut-out 8-0 in Woodbridge, Virginia on Tuesday night. Rondon has now taken 3 of his 5 losses at the hands...

It has been a big year for Indians top pitching prospect left-hander David Huff.
Coming into the season Huff only pitched a total of 67.1 innings the last year and a half since he signed and was drafted as a supplemental first round pick by the Indians in the 2006 Draft out of UCLA. While he certainly was one of the Indians top pitching prospects coming into this season, there were some question...

Potomac Comes Back on Kinston
Niuman Romero extended his hit streak to 21 games, but Kinston dropped game one of a three game series to Potomac 7-4 Monday night in Virginia. Romero went 2-for-4, getting a hit in his first at bat, in his first action back from a three game suspension.
Kinston got on the board in the first inning when Johnny Drennen led the game off with a double and...

Some callups to announce....
LHP Kelvin De La Cruz has been promoted to Kinston. No word yet on who will be replacing De La Cruz on the roster and in the Lake County rotation, but a good possibility could be RHP Paolo Espino moving back to a starter and someone from Mahoning Valley moving up into the bullpen (Rieck?).
RHP Frank Herrmann has been re-activated in Akron and outfielder...

Bisons split double-dip
The Buffalo Bisons split a double header with the Richmond Braves on Sunday. RHP Bryan Bullington got the start in game 1 - his first start with the Herd - and allowed 1 run in 4 innings of work. The only damage he allowed came on a leadoff HR in the second inning by Braves 1B/3B Scott Thorman. RHP JD Martin worked the final 3 scoreless innings to pick up his first...

As the aftermath of the C.C. Sabathia trade starts to wind down, the players received in the deal are doing their best to fit into their new home in the Cleveland Indians organization.
The Indians received four new high level prospects for Sabathia, of which at this time three of them are known. Outfielder/first baseman Matt LaPorta was the headliner of the trade and is off to a good start...

On Saturday, Akron placed RHP TJ Burton on the temporary inactive list and activated OF Matt LaPorta from the inactive list.
1Bman Chris Nash has been assigned to the GCL Indians on a rehab assignment. Nash has struggled this season with various injuries ranging from a strained Lat, to a sore shoulder to most recently a triceps problem. Assuming all goes well on the rehab Nash will likely be...

Available IBI Books

The 2014 Cleveland Indians Baseball Insider book featuring the Indians' Top 100 Prospects and more is now available. Also, previous editions from 2008-2012 are also available at a discounted rate. Just click on the book image for more information. Thanks again for all the support!